No. 55: Part of Regent’s Park College
This building probably dates from the late eighteenth century. It is Grade II listed (List Entry No. 1047108). It lies in St Giles' parish.
In recent years it has been the Principal’s Lodgings of Regent’s Park College
The college arms over the doorway (below) depict “argent on a cross gules an open Bible proper irradiated or the pages inscribed with the words ‘DOMINUS JESUS’ in letters sable on a chief wavy azure a fish or”. The motto underneath reads, ‘OMNIA PROBATE QUOD BONUM TENETE’ (1 Thess. 5, v.21: “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good”).
At the time of the 1772 Survey of Oxford, the site of No. 55 was house and yard in possession of Mr Wood, with a frontage of exactly 12 yards. The present house must have replaced this house and yard soon afterwards.
The building appears to be listed as uninhabited at the time of the 1841 census. Very soon after that the land agent & surveyor James Saunders moved here. The family is marked as absent in the 1851 census, and only their five servants were at home. The 1861 census shows the wife and three young daughters of James Saunders in residence here, looked after by a housemaid, nurse, cook, and under housemaid, and with a page and a governess. Two articled pupils and a clerk also lived in the house. It appears that there was a separate household in the same building comprising Emily Munro, a widowed fundholder, with her sister-in-law, children, and two servants.
55 St Giles' Street in c.1905 when
J. T. Dodd lived there
At the time of the 1871 census the Revd Joseph Dodd (60), described as the Rector of Hampton Poyle and a landowner, lived here with his wife Mary (57) and their son John Theodore Dodd (23), who was an undergraduate at Oxford, plus four servants (a lady's maid, cook, housemaid, and footman). He was still here at the time of the 1881 census with his wife and their three servants, and again in 1891. The Revd Dodd died at the end of that year, but the listing in Kelly's Directory was not changed until his widow died in 1893.
By the time of the 1901 census No. 55 was occupied by their son John Theodore Dodd (53), described as a barrister-at law, and his wife Ellinor (30) and their three young children, plus their four servants..
The 1911 census shows John Theodore Dodd (63), now a retired barrister, still living here with his wife Ellinor and their three children and his niece, plus three servants (a cook, a house & parlour maid, and a house maid). Ellinor died at the age of 43 near the beginning of 1914 and the 1921 census shows Dodd, a widower of 73, living here with his daughter Eileen Theodora Dodd, B.A. (Oxon) who was an unpaid welfare worker and their three servants..
Since 1928 No. 55 has been part of Regent's Park College. The 1939 Register shows the Principal of the College, Henry Wheeler Robinson, living here with his wife.
Occupants of 55 St Giles’ Street listed in censuses and directories |
|
1841–1861 |
James Saunders |
1866–1927 |
Rev. Joseph Dodd (former Vicar of Hampton Poyle) from 1866 to 1893 Then his widow Mary Dodd until her death here on 17 February 1893 Then their son John Theodore Dodd, M.A. until 1927 |
1928–present |
Principal’s House, Regent’s Park College |